In just three days, several checkpoints in Yatake Mountain were broken through by refugees, and the soldiers stationed there suffered heavy casualties.
After the news came out, the Kumamoto clan was shocked, and the Sagara clan was also frightened. As a few soldiers who were lucky enough to escape returned to the government office to report, the incident in Ashikita Town spread quickly to all parts of Kitakyushu as if it had wings. The farmers who were waiting for food in the winter and had no way to ask for help began to flee with their families under the cover of night.
In the following ten days, the night post roads of Kitakyushu were filled with people and shoulders like clouds. By the time the Kumamoto clan reacted and sent out an army to intercept, more than 30,000 people had already crossed Mount Yatake and entered the Three Prefectures. land. And behind these people, more and more refugees came from Hinata, Bungo and even Bunzen, and they had the potential to start a prairie fire.
With so many farmers fleeing their homes, the Kumamoto clan and other feudal clans were immediately devastated. The mud legs are all running away, are we going to let the samurai master farm in the spring?
The current lord of the Kumamoto Domain is Hosokawa Shigemasa, the 9th generation head of the Hosokawa family and the 8th generation head of the Higo Kumamoto Domain. This man is currently taking charge of the affairs in Edo. The housekeeper, Hosokawa Nagaoka Korei, who was responsible for looking after the house, not only sent people to Edo to ask for help, but also immediately sent his men to negotiate with Beihai Town.
However, after the people of the Kumamoto clan arrived in Hishikari County, envoys from the Akizuki family, the Sagara family, the Naito family, the Tachibana family, the Kurushima family, the Mori family, and the Inaba family also arrived one after another, and they transferred the guests to the small guest house in Hokkai Town. Overcrowded. Everyone in the surrounding area came here, and you might not be able to see them all at once even if you go to Edo.
After meeting the officials of Beihai Town, these envoys kept saying the same thing over and over: "Give the people back to us!"
"Everyone, because there are too many people breaking through these days, we have not been able to prevent them. Now they have all run into the mountains. But don't worry, give us a year, oh no, half a year, and wait until we find the people and examine them one by one. When it’s over, let them go back.”
The speaker was a man in his forties. He was wearing a Northern Navy military uniform without a rank mark. He was short in stature, had short hair that was about an inch long, had rosy cheeks, and had a beard on his chin.
This person is the former leader of the agricultural machinery team of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Beihai Town, and was one of Zhao Xin's seven dwarfs... Bah! Manzao is one of the Seven Samurai.
Speaking of such an important position in Linggao Jinshan, Zhao Xin was really worried if he didn't leave one of his own. In addition, because Linggao Jinshan mining uses a lot of machinery and equipment, Wan Zao, who had been driving a tractor in Beihai Town for several years, was finally selected and became the local mayor.
Wan Zao's snot-nosed son Wan Haiyang is now a student at the Beihai Navy Junior Military Academy, and his wife continues to play the role of the housekeeper of "Prince Zhao's Mansion" in Beihai Town, coming in and out of Zhao Xin's house all day long.
The envoys from other domains were okay, but the three families of Hosokawa, Xiangliang, and Qiuyue immediately became anxious. Half a year? Half a year later, whether I will be here or not will be another matter!
If such a big thing happened, once the news reached Edo, he would be beaten by the shogunate and he would not be able to escape. rebuke? That is impossible! If it doesn’t work well, we will have to cut the seal and change it. For the Tokugawa family, they have been humiliated by Sendai Domain and Beihai Town in recent years, and they are in need of a few chickens to scare the monkeys! Besides, we can take the opportunity to expand the shogunate's territorial domain, so why not do it.
"My lord, I have always been respectful to your department in the past two years, and I have done nothing wrong. Please consider the fact that we are all from the island country and return the fugitives to us! Otherwise, I will be held accountable by Edo in the future. Maybe it will be changed! Wuwuwu~~~"
The envoy sent by the Hosokawa family started to cry after speaking, and the envoys from other families also felt sad.
As a farmer who had also been oppressed and couldn't survive, Wan Zao, who was sitting in the main seat, really wanted to look up to the sky and laugh wildly at this moment. Oh my God, God is really wise! You samurai masters are here too! If you want to take someone back, there is no way!
In fact, he immediately informed Beihai Town of the situation on the first day the refugees arrived, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs also responded quickly. All the refugees who have escaped will be sent to the Ajiogen foothills in Chushui County, where they will be picked up by boat after a short stay for rest. The plan of the Ministry of Civil Affairs is to naturalize these people first, and then send them to Heilongjiang after the Heilongjiang thaws in spring. Go to various settlements in Siberia.
The reason why the farmers who fled into the country were not allowed to stay was to keep the secret of Linggao Jinshan. Since Beihai Town began mining in the Linggao Mining Area, as Zhao Xin's largest source of wealth, the entire twenty miles surrounding the mining area has been classified as a restricted area. Several drones patrol the air 24 hours a day. Within the fence surrounded by barbed wire, there is a camera every 50 meters and a sentry tower every 200 meters. Anyone who approaches the barbed wire without authorization will fire a warning shot before moving forward. will be shot to death.
The workers working in the mining area are all from Beihai Town, and their families live in Beihai Town. The working period is one year. The salary offered to workers by the civil administration is very high, with the lowest salary being 80 North Sea dollars per month. Food and accommodation are the same as those in the army. The only requirement is to be strict with your words, and you must sign a confidentiality agreement after recruitment. If you violate the rules, your whole family will be sent to the coal mine in Ezochi.
In the past two years, the shogunate and surrounding vassals have sent hundreds of spies, including people from the Sendai clan. They all wanted to find out what Beihai Town was doing here, but in the end, no one could return alive.
Manzo suppressed his laughter and said in a deep voice to the Kumamoto clan's envoy: "Everyone, this matter is still your responsibility. People go to higher places and water flows to lower places. If you don't give the people a way to survive, don't blame them. They resisted. However, this matter is not without a solution."
When everyone present heard this, they all raised their heads and looked at Wan Zao. He raised his hand to signal, and an assistant behind him distributed more than a dozen pamphlets to the envoys of each domain. When everyone took it and took a look, they saw a few big words written on the cover: "Agricultural Cooperative Combination Method - Trial Version".
Um? Everyone hurriedly opened it and saw the first article of Chapter 1 General Provisions, which stated that this measure aims to increase agricultural productivity and improve the economic and social status of farmers by promoting the development of agricultural cooperative organizations, in order to achieve the prosperity and development of the Kyushu region. .
At this time, Wan Zao said: "Everyone, take a good look at it today, and we will talk about it tomorrow."
So the envoys from various vassals took the booklet back and read it hard all night. Although the words in the booklet were all straightforward, because there were many new terms, some of them were confused after reading it. Of course, there were also some people. I can see the ambition of Beihai Town.
Late at night, the messenger from the Maori family turned over the book several times and finally understood it, and then broke out in a cold sweat. "Oh my God! They are planning to control the entire agriculture of Kyushu Island in their own hands!"
That's right, when six years have passed since the "Tianming Famine" and the impact of natural disasters on agriculture has come to an end, another plan of Zhao Xin is also ready to be implemented.
Don't get me wrong, he has no intention of seizing control because there is no point in doing so. If you drive away a bunch of rice bugs, you may be replaced by a bunch of rice bugs. What he wants to do is to control the grassroots countryside and complete the overall control of the island country's economy by controlling agriculture. And Kyushu was the experimental field he chose.
In the past few years, Hokkai Trading Company has put a large amount of Hokkai dollars into the island country market, but they were basically circulated in large commercial cities such as Ishinomaki Port, Edo and Osaka. They relied on commodity dumping and large loans to achieve profits, making it difficult to penetrate. Enter the daily life of ordinary people in the island country.
The problem is that the shogunate is not stupid. Beihai Town is trying to swindle gold, and the gold and silver price comparison market in the "Liangbaitou" will definitely change. The method adopted by Matsudaira Sadanobu was to limit the number of imported goods in Beihai Town, increase the circulation ratio of "gold bar" and "silver bar", and control exchange.
Zhao Xin and Chen Qingsong have been discussing this matter for less than half a year, and they both turned their attention to the countryside.
According to the shogunate system of the island country, farmers' annual tribute rice payment method is the "village tax system" paid by the whole village. Farmers take the village as a unit and hand over the annual tribute rice to the agent at a designated place in one go. After the annual tribute and rice were paid, the feudal lord would keep the portion that belonged to himself and his family for expenses, and distribute the stone and rice to each samurai in the retainer group step by step according to the agreed amount of enfeoffment, and then keep the remaining portion as well as Most of the money is shipped to "Kurayashiki" in Osaka for sale.
Because the annual tribute of each village is fixed, there is room for manipulation. For example, a piece of land in a certain village with an area of three towns, three backs, nine acres and twenty-four steps is on the official land account. The tribute rice payable is 33 shi, 8 buckets, 2 liters, 7 in 7 spoons and 2 talents of rice.
In the plan drawn up by him and Chen Qingsong, Beihai Trading Co., Ltd. will serve as the initiator of the "Agricultural Cooperative Association" and fund the establishment of the Agricultural Cooperative Association. The natural villages under each vassal will be sub-associations, and all farmers in the village will be members of the sub-association. , everyone has shares, which cannot be transferred.
The official offices of each domain cannot interfere with what crops farmers plant each year and how they grow them. Everything is decided by the General Assembly.
When it comes time to pay the annual tribute, the Agricultural Cooperation Federation will directly convert the rice bid price from Osaka and Edo into money and pay it to the government office of each domain. As for what is planted on the land and how much the harvest is, it is only ten cents with the government office. It doesn't matter.
Correspondingly, the transportation and circulation of agricultural products will be completely controlled by the Federation, and the Kurayashiki established by the feudal lords in Osaka specifically for selling rice will be thrown out of this circulation process. As a result, the federation has control over the pricing power of agricultural products. In the past, the pricing of Kyushu's agricultural products was controlled by Osaka's Kurayashiki, but with the strength of Hokkai Trading Company, the rice merchants themselves would come to purchase goods.
As a result, on one side, a large amount of Hokkaido dollars poured into the pockets of feudal lords and samurai, who would exchange these currencies for daily necessities in the market, whether for official duties or in daily life; and on the other side, there were rice merchants and other agricultural product brokers. People paid a lot of gold and silver to buy from the General Assembly.
And because Kyushu is an island, this "agricultural cooperative combination" plan also includes fisheries.
Not to mention how the envoys from the Kyushu Island vassals would report to their elders after returning home. Compared with Wan Zao's high-spirited return home, Zhao Xin had already arrived at Red Rock City, where he was going to meet the Russian envoy from afar. .
Red Rock City, also known as Krasnoyarsk. As the New Year's bell rang in 1791, the names of towns in Eastern Siberia that had been ruled by Tsarist Russia for more than a hundred years were changed.
For example, Yeniseysk was changed to "Pingshi", which comes from the ancient name of the Yenisei River "Qianhe". The image of the Qian hexagram in the Book of Changes says, "A gentleman benefits the few by gathering more, and he calls things equal and gives." .
Irkutsk was renamed "Baikal" according to the old name of Lake Baikal, and the North Sea Special Region was also renamed "Baikal Province"; Yakutsk was changed to "Big River" according to the translation of the Evenki name Lena River. "Nerchinsk returned to its old name "Nerchinsk", which means "cold" in the Evenki language. In fact, the names of many places in Siberia come from the Evenki language. They are either big rivers, big rivers, or seas.
As for Kyaktu, there is no need to change its name. When the Northern Navy sends troops to Outer Mongolia, it will be directly merged into one town with the trading city more than 100 meters away.
How could Zhao Xin not make trouble when it came to changing place names?
After careful consideration, he changed the name of Tulum, an inconspicuous village and town, to "Jewish Autonomous County of Baibair Province". When the news was announced, the Jews under Beihai Town went crazy with joy. The Provisional County Council, which had just been established a few days ago, sent people to meet Zhao Xin despite the wind and snow at the end of January, and presented a letter of allegiance signed by all Jewish residents, stating that it would completely obey the leadership of Beihai Town in the future. What did His Highness Zhao say? That’s right, chasing the rabbit will never chase the chicken.
Of course, Zhao Xin was not fooled by the Jewish ecstasy. He once again reiterated the warning that Jews are not allowed to conduct financial lending business in a private capacity. Of course, it's okay to work for Beihai Town and get a body stock similar to Shanxi Merchant's ticket number.
In fact, it is true that the Tsarist Russian Jews of this era are engaged in loan sharking as an "instinct" passed down from their ancestors, but it is still far from being allowed for these people to get involved in the modern financial industry of Beihai Town. The main reason is that their education level is too poor and their literacy The rate is not high.
The meeting place between Beihai Town and the Tsarist Russian mission was chosen in the newly built stone library in the city, and the residence of the mission staff was arranged in the courtyard where Rumyantsev died.
Although Count Mujin and Count Jacobi, who had lost his hand, had told some stories about Zhao Xin, Count Orlov was still stunned for a moment when he saw Zhao Xin and his staff. Nothing else, these enemies look too young. The well-tailored military uniforms and the newly modified faces made Sheng Haizhou, Li Rui, Jiuzang and others behind Zhao Xin look rebellious from top to bottom.
These young officers reminded Orlov immediately of his days as commander-in-chief of the navy when he planned the expedition against the Ottoman Empire.
"Hello, Count Chesmansky." Zhao Xin, wearing a camouflage cold-proof suit without military rank, smiled and extended his right hand.
Twenty years ago, Count Orlov was awarded the Order of St. George, First Class by Catherine II, and received the title "Chesmansky". From then on, he was respectfully known as Orlov Ches. Count Smansky.
Orlov, who was wearing a silver wig, also smiled. He stretched out his hand and shook it hard, then let go and said to Zhao Xin: "Your Highness, it's an honor to meet you. I have to say that you are now a household name in St. Petersburg. , even Her Majesty the Queen has mentioned you many times. She said that you are the most respectable person in her life."
Hehe, respect? Zhao Xinxin said that he was probably itching his teeth with hatred. Anyone who loses millions of square kilometers of land will be unable to eat or sleep at night. From the end of the "Battle of Usolye" to the present, it took Tsarist Russia more than three months to send out a negotiating team, which was a very rapid move.
He then shook hands with other members of the mission. When it was the mission's turn to translate Agafonov, the man spoke in somewhat jerky Beijing Mandarin: "Hello, Your Highness, I am... ..."
"Haha, have you been to Beijing too? Is Beijing fun?" Zhao Xinxin said that he met another Russian who had been to Beijing. Father Ma and Father Fei said that their Mandarin skills were much better than this one.
"Well... it's wonderful. I miss the life of studying in China very much." Agafonov said to himself that His Highness's Russian is actually better than my Chinese. Who did he learn it from?
After everyone sat down, Zhao Xin said in a tone that could not be refused: "Have you all had a rest? I know your purpose of coming, so there is no need to say any more polite words, let's get started."
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Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju